Monitoring biometric technologies in a free society.

• Author: Crews, Clyde Wayne, S. Jr.
• Position: American Thought

CONTROVERSY CONTINUES in Washington over Internet privacy legislation to deal with unwanted marketing online. However, that debate has been overshadowed by the rise of public surveillance technology, particularly biometrics, which are even more invasive, using individuals' unique physical characteristics for purposes of identification and/or authentication. Biometrics gained at the 2001 "Snooper Bowl" when fans at Super Bowl XXXV were observed by surveillance cameras and their faces compared to a database of criminals using face-recognition software. After the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, the idea of government-issued national ID cards containing some form of biometric identifying information took root.

Face-recognition cameras are now common at airports, on city streets, and in other public places. Biometric technologies also include retina or iris scanners, digitized fingerprints and handprints, and voiceprints. They even include implantable rice-sized radio frequency chips coded with personal information that can be displayed by a scanner.

Biometric technologies can benefit us. Such technologies will find their way into cell phones and mobile computers, car doors, doorknobs, and office keys. They can bolster online commerce, helping prevent identity theft. Implanted microchips have been used to help track pets. Especially for our descendants, implantation of scannable biometric chips may become more accepted and practiced, as has already been done to a limited extent for Alzheimer's patients. For example, they could help locate a missing child or transmit medical information to doctors.

As Paul Saffo of the Institute for the Future put it, "The computer has jumped off our desktops and it is insinuating itself into every corner of our lives. Now it's finding its way into our bodies."

Still, no one wants to be treated like a human bar code by the authorities. What are the benefits and concerns surrounding the further deployment of biometric identification techniques into various facets of American life? Do they promise new levels of physical security and more-secure commerce, or do they threaten fundamental values of privacy and even liberty itself? What are the distinctions between governmental and commercial deployment of biometric technologies, and what principles can help identify proper and improper uses?

Biometrics range from completely involuntary to partially voluntary to totally voluntary. The most-pressing threat to liberty is the first, all-inclusive database mandated by government--a national identification card with biometric identifiers. The threat of such an D is apparent--it is involuntary, will increase unwelcome surveillance, and will undercut a presumptive right to maintain anonymity. It would devolve into a general law enforcement tool having nothing to do with the terrorism that prompted recent calls for national IDs, and would blur the distinction between public and private databases.

A less-sweeping biometric database would be partial, containing criminals and suspects, but not the general population, such as face-recognition cameras deployed in public places like airports and sporting events. Individuals would be observed, but presumably only to see if they matched a face already in the database by way of proper legal procedures. Nevertheless, many observers doubt that governments can be trusted to discard incidental data collected on innocents.

Finally, private applications of biometrics would be those that contain data solely on individuals who have garnered clearance for a particular private purpose (access to financial records, for instance), as opposed to governmental databases. Here, the technologies hold considerable promise.

The challenge of the biometric future is to prevent mandatory national ID cards, ensure Fourth Amendment protections with respect to public surveillance, and avoid the blurring of public and private databases. Private industry must generate its own information, for purposes limited by the market's twin engines of consumer choice and consumer rejection.

Government vs. private databases and their risks to liberty. In private hands, biometric technologies enlarge our horizons. They expand the possibilities of a market economy...